What is a watershed? Where are they located? Why ...

What Is a Watershed?

A watershed is all the land area that drains into a given body of water. Small watersheds combine to become big watersheds, sometimes called basins. When water from a few acres drains into a little stream, those few acres are its watershed. When that stream flows into a larger stream, and that larger stream flows into a bigger river, then the initial small watershed is now part of that river's watershed. Watersheds are a logical way to think about the connection between the land and the quality of water we enjoy. How we manage and treat the land has a direct impact on the ability of water to support a number of important public uses like swimming, fishing, aquatic species habitat and drinking water supply. We all live downstream from someone, and what happens in a watershed does not just stay in that watershed.

Managing Programs by Watershed

Tennessee's water-protection program focuses on watersheds because it's the best way to evaluate, protect and improve the quality of all the waters in the state. When pollutants threaten or prevent our waters from meeting clean-water goals,

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we can look at all of the pollution sources in the affected watershed and develop Water from rainfall that doesn't evaporate runs

more comprehensive control strategies.

into ditches, streams, creeks, rivers, wetlands

Tennessee recognizes 55 watersheds, and TDEC has developed a watershed or lakes. A watershed is the land area from

management plan for each of them. Visit environment/watersheds which water drains into a river, stream or lake.

to view these plans. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also offers Surf

Your Watershed at surf to help citizens locate, use and share environmental information about their watershed.

Citizen groups also play an important role in protecting Tennessee's waters. There are several highly effective watershed asso-

ciations in Tennessee, and citizens are encouraged to become actively involved in protecting waters in their neighborhood. Visit

WaterWorks! at for more information.

Tools Available to Protect Our Watersheds

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has an extensive program to monitor and assess water quality in each of the state's 55 watersheds. This information enables the department to better establish permit limitations and to develop needed controls on discharges and other impacts. Management plans for each of Tennessee's 55 watersheds may be viewed at environment/watersheds.

Most of Tennessee's towns discharge treated wastewater to streams, and many land-disturbing activities such as construction may involve altering water courses or wetlands. In most instances, permits for these discharges and disturbances are required, and each permit sets limits that are designed to be protective of the receiving rivers and streams.

Rainwater that does not soak into the ground becomes surface runoff, either flowing directly into streams or being channeled into conduits called storm sewers that eventually discharge into streams. As stormwater flows across roofs, roads, parking lots, construction sites and farms, it often picks up pollutants like motor oil, chemical fertilizers, silt and other nonpoint-source contaminants. Because most stormwater is not treated prior to entering streams, it's crucial that we do what we can to minimize these potential contaminants and prevent them from reaching our waterways. This is the goal of stormwater management.

In urbanized areas, stormwater runoff is channeled through Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s). There are more than 100 designated MS4s in Tennessee, most of them managed by city or county governments, with conduits ranging from curbs to ditches to storm drains. TDOT has one of the largest designated MS4 programs in Tennessee, because it handles stormwater from miles of interstate roads, highways and maintenance facilities. MS4s seek to reduce the quantity of pollutants that stormwater picks up and carries into storm sewer systems during rain events. Visit for more information.

What is a watershed? Where are they located? Why are they important?

Printed on recycled paper (30 percent post-consumer content).

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Authorization No. 327249, 200,000 copies. This public document was promulgated at a cost of $.12 per copy. April 2010.

We're All

Connected

Tennessee shares parts of 35 watersheds with neighboring states. Every watershed in Tennessee, except the Conasauga in southeast Tennessee, eventually drains directly or indirectly to the Mississippi River and then into the Gulf of Mexico.

Helpful Links Resource Box Choose your outdoor adventure at Find a Tennessee greenway or trail at Learn more about Tennessee watersheds at environment/watersheds Tennessee's had enough. Keep Tennessee Beautiful and Stop Litter at .

Cumberland River Basin

Cheatham Lake Watershed

Cheatham Lake is an impoundment of the Cumberland River and includes 320 miles of shoreline that extends 67.5 miles up the Cumberland River from Cheatham Dam through Nashville to Old Hickory Dam. The lock and dam were authorized by Congress in 1946 as a navigation project to enhance the development of the Cumberland River, and Cheatham Lake was filled and the lock opened to the public in December 1952.

The 688-mile long Cumberland River starts in eastern Kentucky on the Cumberland Plateau, flows through southeastern Kentucky and crosses into Tennessee at Clay County, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before draining into the Ohio River, a tributary to the Mississippi River. The Cumberland River Basin drains 18,000 square miles of land that is home to almost 2 million people.

Barren River Watershed is not part of the Cumberland Basin. It drains north to the Ohio River Basin before flowing into the Mississippi River.

Harpeth River Watershed

The Harpeth River Watershed includes 870 square miles across eight counties and 1,129 stream miles. All the water from this watershed is carried by the Harpeth River directly into the Cumberland River near Ashland City.

Cumberland River Basin

Stones River

Watershed

The Stones River Watershed is 921 square miles and includes 1,031 stream miles with 22,691 lake acres. Sixty-nine rare plant and animal species have been documented in the Stones River Watershed, including eight rare fish species.

Caney Fork River Watershed

The Caney Fork River Watershed includes parts of 11 Middle Tennessee counties with more than 2,000 stream miles and 25,000 lake acres. Sixty rare plant and animal species have been documented in the watershed. Recent improvements by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Center Hill Dam have improved dissolved oxygen levels in the Caney Fork River, making it a trophy trout stream and popular destination for anglers across the southeast.

Old Hickory

Lake

Watershed

The Old Hickory Lake watershed drains 983 square miles with a prominent collection point at the Old Hickory Reservoir, completed in 1957 and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The reservoir provides a source of hydropower and water, as well as flood control. A single lock helps to maintain constant navigation through the Cumberland River.

U p p e r Te n n e s s e e R i v e r B a s i n

Emory

River

Watershed

The Emory River Watershed features more than 870 square miles along the Cumberland Plateau and drains to the Clinch River embayment of Watts Bar Reservoir. Parts of four streams in the watershed, including the Obed Wild and Scenic River, have been designated as part of the National Wild and Scenic River System. The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by Congress in 1968 in an effort to preserve streams in their free-flowing condition. Frozen Head State Park and Catoosa Wildlife Management Area are popular destinations.

Clinch and Powell River

Watersheds

The Clinch and Powell rivers are formed in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia and are considered the only ecologically intact (undammed) headwaters of the Tennessee River system. The Clinch River basin has been identified as the number-one "hotspot" in the nation for imperiled aquatic species. The Clinch River includes Kyles Ford Preserve, an 850-acre property with a shoal in a shallow section of the Clinch River containing at least 35 mussel species, more than any other place on Earth.

Upper Tennessee River Basin

Conasauga is the only watershed in Tennessee that doesn't eventually drain into the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi River. It flows into the Gulf through Mobile Bay.

The Tennessee River rolls along almost 650 miles, passing through three states and draining parts of four others, before eventually emptying into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky. The Upper Tennessee River Basin includes roughly 200 river miles in East Tennessee, from the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers on the east side of Knoxville, to where the river crosses into northern Alabama just west of Chattanooga.

Nolichucky

River Watershed

The Nolichucky River is considered a Class III whitewater river, its freeflowing waters running fastest in the spring. This watershed drains almost the entirety of Greene and Unicoi counties.

Ocoee River

Watershed

A tributary of the Hiwassee River, the Ocoee River is known for its whitewater rafting and was host to whitewater slalom events during the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Fort Loudoun Lake Watershed

The Fort Loudoun Lake Watershed is 638 square miles and is known for its outstanding boating, fishing and birdwatching. The watershed features 911 stream miles and 14,600 lake acres located along the Tennessee River as it stretches from Knoxville to Lenoir City. Fort Loudoun Reservoir is uppermost in the chain of nine TVA reservoirs that form a continuous navigable channel from there to Paducah, Kentucky, 652 miles away. These reservoirs create lake like conditions for portions of the Tennessee River as it flows through the state.

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